Michelle Benitez Perez

I would say my adaptability. I love to learn, and I love to travel, and to move around, and to adapt to new things, and I think that's what makes me a good journalist. Even with social media, it was actually interesting just to learn something new. You have to be able to adapt in any career, but I think when it comes to journalism, it's sometimes harder, because we're so used to being focused on justice and what is right. But now there's so many opinions, and everybody has an opinion, and social media gives everyone a platform to have their own little spotlight on their own show. For me, it's about being able to adapt and to change and try new things in a way that people would be able to consume and understand without misunderstanding. I can talk to somebody that is older, and somebody that is younger, and they will be able to understand me.

If I were in that position, I would ask myself why I would choose this career and what's the reason why I would do that. It's a career that is changing so much right now, so the future of journalism is very unsure. But I would say be honest about what you want, and be open-minded about what the future of journalism will be. It's always going to be there - it might change how it looks or what it was, but journalism in its nature is to help people. Our goal is to be as honest as you can be with the information that we have, to give information the way it comes, as true as it is, without being biased. Just give information as it comes. If that's what you want to do, then you should do it, not for any other reason, not because you like the spotlight or because it looks good on TV, because journalism is not what people think it is.

I would say how everything is changing with social media, and how we sell stories, because we're competing with a lot of information. Sometimes, when the information is given out so quickly, maybe the facts are not always right. We have to compete with how fast everything is now, and I think that's the biggest challenge for us. All media companies are still trying to figure out how we're gonna manage that. The biggest issue is how to get people's attention, because right now, there's different strategies, and sometimes it works for a month, maybe for two months, and then everything changes again. We're always trying to learn about the algorithm, and I think that's the biggest issue right now.

I think integrity and being respectful are most important to me. I also value being family-oriented - I think that's a value too.